


An Unexpected Meeting Bathed in Pink Light

by PlagueDoctor31



Category: Evil Dead - All Media Types, From Beyond (1986)
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Herbert West is mentioned but he doesn't appear, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-04-14 05:14:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14128866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlagueDoctor31/pseuds/PlagueDoctor31
Summary: While looking for the bathroom, Ash Williams stumbles upon a mysterious machine and meets an interesting person





	An Unexpected Meeting Bathed in Pink Light

**Author's Note:**

> I'm such a sucker for crossovers, and this is why: Writing fun character interactions! This started out as an interesting idea in a notebook and I thought it would be fun to write the whole idea out.  
> I know Evil Dead likes to cross over with Re-Animator, but let's try something a bit different, something like From Beyond! ^_^
> 
> Also, the facility mentioned in this fic ahead as some kind of cross between the SCP foundation and the facility from Cabin in the Woods, and is completely made up for this story. Enjoy! ^_^

It took a full couple of minutes for Ash to realize that he was lost. He was wandering around the facility with a full bladder and being only half-awake, so it was to be expected. However, getting lost in a supposedly “top secret” facility would probably not look good when he inevitably gets caught. That last thought got Ash to finally come to a halt and look around at his surroundings.

He had reached the first floor of one of the three prongs in the facility’s layout, having come from the center hub. He could see the floors upon floors of cells above him. Three floors in fact. Ash didn’t remember much from this part of the grand tour, only that the cells contained some sort of nasty monster/person/thing that look one catchphrase away from starring in their own horror movie series. The saving grace, that Ash could recall, was that this section was fully automated in terms of security, everything being controlled back near the entrance of the facility’s main hub. Ash briefly wondered how come he managed to get in without someone or something to stop him, but then again he had that kind of luck that saw him going to a cursed cabin, having his friends, acquaintances, his sister, and his girlfriend get killed by said curse, and getting sent back into medieval times to battle an evil version of himself. Not wanting that luck to try anything funny this night, Ash quickly made a heel-face turn and started retracing his steps back to where he came from.

A few steps in, and Ash stubbed his toe on something and fell face first to the hard tile floor. His grunt and curse of pain echoed through the silence of the large hall. Lifting his head, Ash glared back to see what he tripped on. Behind him was a chair, bolted innocuously to the floor to that it was permanently facing one of the clear viewing walls of a cell. Ash scowled, knowing that chair all too well. He recalled earlier that morning during the grand tour that he tripped over the exact same chair. He would’ve only felt embarrassed if it weren’t for that irritatingly smug smile coming from Dr. West as he looked down at him. Remembering that face, made that irritation flare up again as Ash pushed himself back up to his feet.

“Why the hell is it even here in the first place?” Ash grumbled as he looked into the cell.

Ash, once again, was reminded of the morning. While he didn’t particularly remember what the guide was droning on and on about, he did remember seeing the contents of the cell: A machine as tall as the cell itself that consisted of a bunch of electronics attached to a glass orb to which that was connected to four giant tuning forks. Curious on what a machine like that would be doing in there, Ash approached the cell to read its identifying sign:

_**UNIDENTIFIED INTER-DIMENSIONAL CREATURE** _  
_Can only be seen through the use of the_  
_**RESONATOR** _

Going out on a limb, Ash assumed that the machine was this “Resonator”. To him, it didn’t look like much (just a bunch of techno-babble come to life), but if it did have the ability to reveal this “Inter-Dimensional Creature” then Ash could see why it was contained like this.

He would turn to leave if it weren’t for two little voices in his head, the voices of Impulse and Curiosity, the bane of every man’s existence. And now, they’re urging Ash to turn the machine on, to see the monster with his own eyes. Besides, it’ll be behind glass, so he’ll be safe… Right? Looking around the area around the cell, Ash spied what had to be the on button, or rather the on switch located right under the sign and looking straight out of a mad scientist’s laboratory. Ash wondered if West ever used a switch like this as he reached out and flipped it into the upward position. With a loud crack and a flash of spark, the machine started humming to life. Ash took his seat on the bolted chair as everything around him was bathed with the machine’s pink glow.

The light show was pretty entertaining with the glowing orb and tuning forks, and the lighting had a nice ambiance to it, like a nightclub on Valentine’s Day. However much to Ash’s disappointment, there was a distinct lack of ooey-gooey monsters. Ash huffed, tapping his foot impatiently as he felt the minutes tick away. The only real thing he was able to notice was a slight buzzing in the back of his skull, similar to when he downed a few beers last week. On the topic of beers, Ash could feel his bladder reminding him that he should be on his way to relieve himself.

“Is that it?” Ash scoffed and threw his hands up. He was expecting something… Grosser? Flashier? Whatever he was expecting, this definitely wasn’t it. He pushed himself to his feet, reaching out to shut of the Resonator when he was stopped by something.

With his hand hovering over the switch’s knob, ready to turn the machine off at a moment’s notice if it weren’t for a feeling. It was odd, but Ash couldn’t feel like something was coming. Something was here. Ash quickly looked behind him and down the length of the rest of the hall, expecting to see a security guard or, hell, even Dr. West, but nobody was there. The feeling persisted. A crazy thought passed through Ash’s mind, telling him that he was looking in the wrong place. Slowly stepping back from the switch, he kept his eyes away from the cell, hesitating on actually looking to see what actually could be inside. However, he had to look eventually, and Ash did look.

It was a small man, with a small frame and seemingly small presence. He stared back at Ash with wide, curious eyes. His expression was melancholy and slightly mousy, which woman would find cute in a bar-type setting. However, this was not in a bar, so it was quite unsettling. The man’s body, which was unremarkable to say the least, was completely drenched in sweat (or it could be water… or goo). Thankfully for him, the man didn’t have to worry about it soiling his clothes, because he wore none. Wait…

That last tidbit came as an embarrassed shock for Ash and he quickly turned his head away before his eyes could even glimpse at what could be down there.

“Whoa! Put some pants on, buddy!”

“I’m… sorry?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Ash could see that his outburst had perplexed the man. He looked unsure how to respond, but nonetheless the man still attempted to apologize in a soft voice.

“Sorry, sorry,” Ash shook his head, sitting back down and forcing himself to look back at the man and _only_ at the man’s face “It’s just that a naked man was the last thing I expected to see in here.”

The man looked even more confused, “Really? You don’t know who I am?”

“Ummmm,” Ash quickly paused to check the sign “An ‘Inter-Dimensional Creature’? That’s what it says right here.”

The man pressed himself up against the glass in an attempt to see. Despite the sign being in a blind spot for him and therefor practically impossible to see, the man still let out an annoyed groan as he paced back into the cell.

“No wonder! All this time, I was assuming that the security guards here were just being rude,” The man seemed two-parts irritated and somewhat relieved “I’m Dr. Crawford Tillinghast.”

“Sorry, buddy, I’ve never heard of you.”

A sad smile flickered on Crawford’s face, “I wasn’t expecting you to. I was a theoretical physicist before being brought here.”

Ash raised a surprised eyebrow, “And here I thought you were just some shape-shifting monster.”

“Well…” Crawford faltered, hunching over with uncertainty “Technically I am, mister…”

“Ash.”

Crawford nodded, “Ash. I’m dead. My mind was eaten by that shape-shifting monster, and I’m only here because I’m strong enough to be in control.”

Ash was taken aback somewhat. Sure, he’s seen many people get killed by monsters and become possessed by them, but never before has he met someone who literally _became_ the monster that ate them. Or was it just a ruse? Ash could recall when he had locked his sister in the basement of that damned cabin and the monster made is sound like she was crying and begging for him to let her help. Perhaps Crawford was the same, though he seemed awfully polite for a monster and it wasn’t like Ash had the means to release him anyway so there wasn’t any point.

“Um, Ash? I know it’s late, but are you still with me?”

Ash jerked slightly at the sound of Crawford’s voice, pulling him back from his thoughts, “Sorry, this is just the longest conversation I’ve held with a monster,” he paused before quickly adding “No offense.”

That brought a smile to Crawford’s face, “None taken. Hopefully this isn’t the last conversation, perhaps?”

“‘Perhaps?’ What do you mean by that?”

Crawford faltered again, this time looking slightly flustered, “What I meant was that… That maybe you would come back? We could talk again,” in a gesture of impulse and desperation, Crawford slammed his hands on the glass with a soft thud “Please, I need more people to talk to, not just West.”

It may have been just his sleep deprived self, but Ash just saw Crawford’s skin ripple when the hands hit the glass, resembling something like mud or clay. However, that last bit piqued Ash’s interest.

“Wait, West? You talk to West?”

“Er, well…” Crawford admitted “More like he talks, and I listen. I was a physicist, not a doctor like him, so I can’t understand what he’s saying half the time. And he’s very blunt compared to you. You seem much nicer.”

Crawford stared at Ash with those wide eyes again, and Ash could swear that he was batting them at him. Ash could see the little physicist being pretty popular with the ladies, and perhaps quite a few men, during his life. Ash felt a smile grow on his lips as a laugh bubbled up from his throat.

“I’ve met West, and I can say I’m much nicer than him,” Ash declared, perhaps a bit arrogantly. Then again, people liked arrogance every now and again, right? Perhaps so since a smile blossomed on Crawford’s face with a soft chuckle. Yup, Ash has the macho confidence, but Crawford had the shy cuteness to make anyone swoon. Wait… Why was Ash thinking something like that about a monster?

“You look confused,” Crawford observed with a furrowed brow.

“I’m fine, just thinking weird things,” Ash rubbed the back of his head, the buzzing he felt earlier just not going away. It wasn’t very intense, but he had to admit that it felt… pretty good.

Crawford’s expression changed to a worried frown, “Ash. Tell me what you’re thinking about. Please?”

Something about that begging tone of his seemed to tug at Ash’s heartstrings. He would tell him, but the words kept escaping him. Ash kept getting distracted by something. Something between a pair of legs. Not a woman’s legs, but a man’s legs. Wait, not just and man’s legs, Crawford’s legs. Before Ash was going out of his away to not look at it before, but now something about the ambience that made the something a bit more interesting to Ash. Actually, he couldn’t take his eyes off of it, his senses tuning out the sounds around him and focusing on that incessant buzzing. Maybe Crawford should turn around. Ash wanted to see Crawford’s perfect little-

“ASH!” a loud thud cut him off as Crawford smacked his hand against the glass, his free hand going straight to his crotch in his best attempt to cover up. That made Ash jump in his chair, blinking rapidly to pull himself out of the brain fog. Once his attention was redirected back up to Crawford’s face, the second hand moved to join the first at Crawford’s crotch.

“Sorry,” Ash mustered “I didn’t know what came over me.”

“It’s not your fault,” Crawford offered with a reassuring smile “It’s an unexpected side effect of the machine. I mean, I should have expected it, but I didn’t.”

Ash nodding, massaging his forehead, “What happened to me?”

“Your pineal gland is being stimulated to see me.”

“My pi-whatsit?”

“The part of your brain that controls your reproductive cycles. Er… Your sex drive,” Crawford muddled through his explanation “Honestly, West could give you a better answer. What’s important is that it’s been thought of long ago as our ‘third eye’.”

That made Ash raise an eyebrow, “What kind of mystical mumbo-jumbo is-”

“ _Except_ , that it’s not mystical,” Crawford quickly cut back in “If the theory was incorrect, you wouldn’t be seeing me.”

Ash mulled over the new information with a nod, “So, the machine makes people see you, and it also makes them horny. You must be a very popular monster,” A teasing grin spread on his face “Now I’m curious. This machine can make someone as frigid as Dr. West horny, right? What’s that like?”

Ash expected all sorts of embarrassing details just waiting to be held over the doctor for future leverage. Serves him right for acting like a smug prick. It’s always satisfying to knock people like him down a peg. However, Crawford answered the question with a half-hearted shrug, much to Ash’s disappointment.

“Sorry, Ash. I know the Resonator _has_ to work on him, since his pineal is being stimulated to see me, but he’s really good at hiding it.”

“Ah, well. Maybe I should challenge him to cards if he has such a good poker face,” Ash joked, his quip successful in making Crawford smile again.

“Hopefully you won’t actually try to bet anything,” Crawford nodded “I would rather nothing bad happen to you.”

“Because you want to talk to me again?”

Crawford affirmed this with a soft utterance of “Yes”. Ash stood up, giving himself a little stretch. How long had he been sitting down? Who knows. As they always say about time flying.

“I’ll hold you to that, Crawford,” Ash flashed a smile, knowing Crawford would catch the unspoken implication that he will, indeed, come back. Delight bloomed on Crawford’s face and his eyes shined with the excitement of talking to someone new for a change, and Ash certainly couldn’t blame him. After all, Ash already knew he was pretty amazing, especially compared to West. Ash reached out to turn the Resonator off.

“Perhaps next week?” Crawford interjected before everything was shut off.

“Sure thing,” Ash nodded, flipping the switch down, making the pink lights, the buzzing in his head, and Crawford disappeared. Adjusting his eyes back to the greys and blacks of the dark facility around him, Ash looked around to see the unchanged room. He wondered if the other inmates were woken up by their conversation, not that it really mattered. Realization dawned on him however. When he first turned on the machine, he had expected to see the monster, get grossed out, turn the machine off and be on his way. He certainly wasn't expecting there to be a man to appear in place of a monster, though it was a monster that looked and sounded like a man. It was confusing, but did Ash seriously just make friends with a shape-shifting, inter-dimensional monster? Ash wasn't sure what that said about him that his first friend in this place was something inhuman. Oh well.

Ash felt funny, and he looked down at himself, specifically at his pants. He let out an audible groan. He _seriously_ needed to use the bathroom after all this, and Ash practically ran back to the main hub to find one… and maybe a few tissues.

**Author's Note:**

> It's something different, but this was a lot of fun to write. If any of you have any suggestions of crossovers that you want to see, please feel free to suggest them in the comments! And feel free to tell me below as well! ^_^ Thank you so much for reading!
> 
>  
> 
> You can also find me on Tumblr at plaguedoctor31


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